Rich Hybner

Rich Hybner, Member

Rich Hybner is a private investor for technology start-ups and real estate ventures. Previously, he held the position of the CEO for PITOOEY!, Inc., a publicly-traded social media and mobile app technology developer, in Phoenix, AZ.

Rich has also held numerous C-level positions in both large public companies and smaller, privately-held firms, and his accomplishments include significant efforts in technology, media convergence, from traditional to digital and social media. Prior to his current CEO role, Rich was the CFO change agent for BestIT, a leading technology solutions provider, based in Phoenix, Burbank, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, China.

Prior associations include transformational work as Unit CFO for $1.8 Billion, The Wall Street Journal and Domestic Print Group at Dow Jones & Company. His efforts, in part, focused on what is now viewed as “the right plan” to modernize an influential, yet print-centric, newspaper subscriber model to a content machine, providing dynamic reporting and opinion to a then-illusive, but fact-hungry, high demographic readership. This resulted in a transformation for content delivery to the traditional banking community, as well as the disruptive titans of Silicon Valley, Silicon Alley, and similar centers in Austin, Santa Monica, and the warehouses, incubators, and garages for the future captains of industry. Change management and process-driven and operational excellence were also pivotal to other leadership roles at Gannett, The Reader’s Digest Association and Ziff-Davis Media.

Rich’s work has included two separate successful IPOs, significant M&A work and the raising of external investor funds with a transaction value in excess of $400 Million, and numerous corporate turnarounds, rebranding, liquidity effects, and recapitalizations. His affiliation with the Publishing Media Group/McNamee Consulting in New York also resulted in additional M&A activity in the deal range approaching $400 Million.

Rich also serves as Board Member & Treasurer for the Women’s World Health Initiative, based in Salt Lake City, UT, which provide essential pre-natal health and education to West African women. He has also been active with Lambda Legal, a non-profit focused on legal equality for the GLBTQ community; the last four years as one of the Phoenix Chapter host governance Committee.